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Senate OKs defense bill, sends measure to Obama

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress is sending President Barack Obama a comprehensive
defense bill that would crack down on sexual assault in the military and add
protections for victims.

The Senate voted 84-15 Thursday night for the
legislation, which capped a year-long campaign led by the women of the Senate to
address the scourge of rape and sexual assault in the ranks.

The White House
had expressed support for the legislation, which would provide $552.1 billion for
the regular military budget and $80.7 billion for the war in Afghanistan and other
overseas operations, a reflection of deficit-driven efforts to trim spending and
the drawdown in a conflict lasting more than a decade.

The bill covers
combat pay, ships, aircraft and bases and would provide a 1 percent pay raise to
military personnel.

"This bill is not a Christmas gift to our troops and
their families," said Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich.
"Supporting our troops and their families is what we owe them. It's the least we
can do, for they are the gift, they are the gift to this country, to this nation
and to all of its people."

The House passed the bill last week on a strong
bipartisan vote.

The military's handling of high-profile cases of assault
and other crimes had angered Republicans and Democrats in both the House and
Senate, setting in motion what will be sweeping changes to the Uniform Code of
Military Justice.

The congressional effort was marked by one of the most
contentious hearings, when senators dressed down senior military leaders and
insisted that sexual assault in the military had cost the services the trust and
respect of the American people as well as the nation's men and women in uniform.

Summoned to Capitol Hill in June, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the beribboned four-star chiefs of the service
branches conceded in an extraordinary hearing that they had faltered in dealing
with sexual assault. One said assaults were "like a cancer" in the military.

"Not every single commander necessarily wants women in the force. Not every
single commander believes what a sexual assault is. Not every single commander can
distinguish between a slap on the ass and a rape because they merge all of these
crimes together," Gillibrand said.

The legislation would strip military
commanders of their ability to overturn jury convictions, require a civilian
review if a commander declines to prosecute a case and require that any individual
convicted of sexual assault face a dishonorable discharge or dismissal. The bill
also would provide victims with legal counsel, eliminate the statute of
limitations for courts-martial in rape and sexual assault cases, and criminalize
retaliation against victims who report a sexual assault.

The Pentagon has
estimated that 26,000 members of the military may have been sexually assaulted
last year, though thousands were afraid to come forward for fear of inaction or
retribution.

The bill also would change the military's Article 32
proceedings to limit intrusive questioning of victims, making it more similar to a
grand jury

The legislation does not include a contentious proposal from
Gillibrand to give victims of rape and sexual assault in the military an
independent route outside the chain of command for prosecuting attackers, taking
the authority away from commanders.

That proposal drew strong opposition
from the Pentagon and several lawmakers. Gillibrand's plan is likely to get a
separate vote, perhaps as early as next month.

The bill would give Obama
additional flexibility in deciding the fate of terror suspects at the detention
center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but it stops well short of the administration's
goal of closing the installation.

Congress has passed a defense policy bill
every year since the Kennedy administration, but the 52nd year has been one of the
more tortuous.

The House passed its version in June, and the Senate Armed
Services Committee did the same. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., held
off on full Senate debate until November, then tried to limit amendments amid
administration concerns about efforts to impose new sanctions on Iran.

The
White House feared that tough penalties would scuttle a nuclear deal with Tehran.

In a fallback plan, the Republicans and Democrats on the House and Senate
Armed Services committees spent the Thanksgiving break working out a compromise
bill that incorporated elements of their competing versions. The House passed it
with no amendments. Reid's insistence that the Senate do the same drew the wrath
of many Republicans, but they were expected to back the measure.